


Certainty

by LadyLibby



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Minor Character Death, Romance, i love reader's mom, tony and nat are such shippers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-13 00:16:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9096850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyLibby/pseuds/LadyLibby
Summary: Being one of the world’s mightiest heroes is a big job. Family faded far into the background. Fun faded with family. There was nearly no time for anything or anyone other than mission after mission. But when Y/N receives a devastating phone call, she realizes the importance of the people she loves.





	

Deciding to be an Avenger was no small choice. The job became your life. Family faded far into the background. Fun faded with family. There was nearly no time for anything or anyone other than mission after mission.

So one might have expected Y/N L/N to take at least a day before agreeing to join the famous team. She, however, gave an affirmative answer mere moments after the job was offered. Having been an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D for a long while already, Y/N knew the strings attached. 

Within the week she was moved into the Avengers compound and starting the intense training with the team. Well, the part of the team that trained; meaning Nat, Steve, Bucky, and Sam. When the time came for her first mission with the team she was more than ready. 

That was the beginning of Y/N and the star spangled man with a plan’s friendship. They started running together in the mornings. Well, Y/N would run, and Steve would still outpace her at a jog. They moved on to weekly movie nights, catching him up on the pop culture he’d missed. Other feelings began to develop as they grew closer. Y/N was falling down a steadily steeper slope in love with the captain.

Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months. The rest of the Avengers became like a family to Y/N. So much that it almost made up for all the missed birthdays and holidays. Almost. 

Tony had decided to institute a monthly group bonding activity. When the call came, the whole team was playing laser tag. The round was powered people versus agents and Tony. The score was tied. Y/N was determined to win, and right then, that meant taking down her crush. 

Stealthily. she crept up behind Steve, plastic weapon at the ready. With a precisely aimed squeeze of the trigger, his vest blinked and beeped. Surprised, he turned to find her standing victoriously. 

“Ha! I got you!” She exclaimed, doing a little happy dance. Her cute wiggling and silly faces made Steve smile widely. 

He ran at her with a playful grin and scooped her up. She giggled and fought weakly against him, enjoying the whole ordeal fully. 

“Let me down, grandpa!” She laughed. 

“Revenge you young whippersnapper.” He joked back.

Whatever comeback Y/N had was interrupted by the ringing of her cell phone. Steve gently placed her back onto the floor.

“Hello?”

“Y/N? Oh thank god you picked up.” The fraught voice of her mother whispered on the other line. 

“Mom, what’s wrong? Are you okay?” All happiness left her voice as panic rose in her stomach. 

“It’s...it’s your father. He,” she broke off to sob, “he passed away this morning.” her mother managed through the tears.

Y/N felt as though all the breath had been knocked out of her lungs. An overwhelming feeling of heaviness descended over her. She felt guilty, deeply sad, and unsure. Numbly, she stumbled backwards and slid down to sit against a wall. 

“How,” she tried to swallow the lump in her throat, “How did it happen? Was he in pain?” 

“No, thank goodness. It was...a heart attack in his sleep.” 

Y/N furiously wiped at the tears that had begun to fall, trying to keep it together. Steve sat quietly next to her, waiting to offer support. 

“I’ll be on the next flight out. Are you going to be ok for the next few hours? Is someone with you?” Y/N asked, a need to keep her mother safe overtaking the other emotions swirling around inside. 

“Your uncle is here.” Her mother said, voice still wavering. 

“Okay. I’ll be there soon. I love you.” Once her mother said goodbye, Y/N hung up the phone. 

Tears falling uncontrollably, she turned to look at Steve. “My dad’s dead.” She whispered. As her super soldier friend grabbed her in a bone crushing hug, a realization dawned on her. 

“I never,” she sobbed, “I never told him how much I love him. I never told him and now he’s gone.” 

As Y/N wept, Steve held her and whispered sweet reassurances. He just sat and held her as long as she needed him. He held her while signalling to the others to stop the game. He held her while Nat went and packed up her stuff for the trip and Tony readied the private jet. 

He only let go when she got in the jet and flew off to her hometown, and a grieving family. Once the jet was out of sight, Steve got to work. With a patient helping hand from Bruce, Steve figured out how to text. Every day, he sent Y/N a ‘good morning, doll’ or other sweet things to make her feel better. He sent a lot of those texts. She was gone for a while. 

After the funeral, Y/N basically moved back home indefinitely. She refused to waste the time she had left with her mother. 

Occasionally Y/N answered video calls from the team and caught up on what had been going on. She missed them dearly, but insisted on staying with her mother. 

One morning, Y/N was standing at the kitchen sink, scrubbing dishes from that morning’s breakfast. Her mother quietly entered the room and laid a gentle hand on her daughter’s back. 

“Do you want a hand with those chickadee?” the older woman asked. 

Y/N moved over and handed her mother the dishes to dry. They just stood there together washing dishes. For a moment, the heavy feeling of grief that had settled in their stomachs went away. Eventually, Y/N’s mother chuckled quietly. 

“You know, I remember giving you baby baths in this sink.” 

“Really?” Y/N asked with a disbelieving smile. 

“Oh yeah. You fought it like crazy. There was splashing, and kicking and soooo much screaming, you would not believe. I was about to give up and just let you be a stinky mess, when your father decided to give it a try. The minute he picked you up, you were all about the bath. At the time I was so pissedm but then as I watched you two together I realized something. You loved your dad. You loved him so much.” Her mother turned and took Y/N’s hands. 

“I know you’ve been beating yourself up for this, but I need to tell you that your dad knew how much you loved him. He knew. Honestly, I was a little jealous of how close you two were.”

Y/N let out a shaky laugh, wrapping her mother in a hug. They stood there in the kitchen, laughing and hugging for awhile. Eventually, her mom spoke again. 

“You should go back to work.” 

“Mom-”

“I know you’re worried about me, and it’s incredibly sweet, but don’t think I don’t know about my favorite captain texting you all the time.”

Y/N flushed a little, trying to stop the rapid beating of her heart. Her mother smiled knowingly. “Just make sure you come back home more often.”

****

When Y/N stepped inside the common room, she was greeted with a surprise dinner. The whole team was there, and they all told her how glad they were she was back. For the second time in a long month, the pit in her stomach went away. 

The dinner was full of delicious home cooked food (Vision had been practicing), laughter, and family. It was as though she’d never even left. 

By the time things were winding down however, Y/N came back down to reality. She had gone into her room to settle back in when she saw the photo on her desk. It was a little three year old Y/N on her father’s shoulders. 

She gently tipped the frame over, so that she wouldn’t see it. Slightly behind it and to the left was a completely different picture. It was a photo of Steve and Y/N in the common room from about a year before. 

She’d just made a silly pun that actually made him laugh. His laugh made her laugh, and so there they were, a couple of goofs on a couch. Tony had taken the picture and Y/N insisted on keeping it she loved it so much. 

With a wistful smile, she picked it up and traced Steve’s smile. Remembering that day, and the warm feeling that always seemed to appear in his presence, something clicked inside her. Nothing was set in stone. Life was too damn short to keep hiding how she felt. 

That thought driving her, she got up and made to leave her room. Only when she opened the door, there was someone there, lifting his hand to knock. 

“Steve! I was actually about to come find you.” She said, gesturing for him to come inside. 

“I just wanted to see how you’re doing.” He said, concern clear on his face. 

“I’m...okay. It’s still not quite real somehow, but I think what I need to do is just keep moving forward. I think that’s what he’d want me to do. He wouldn’t want me to wallow.” 

Steve nodded. “How’s your mom?” 

“She’s alright. She misses you. She said that I have to bring you with me next visit.”

“Really? Well, only if that’s alright with you, doll.” He reasoned. Y/N tried to ignore the flutter in her stomach at the nickname. 

“I actually had something else I wanted to talk to you about.” Y/N said, nerves kicking in a little. She fiddled with the hem of her shirt before beginning. 

“I have a lot of time to think lately. About life, and death, and well, everything. I never got to tell my dad goodbye before he died. And that feeling,” Y/N pushed back her tears, “That feeling is horrible. I want to do everything in power to keep it from happening again. In our line of work, emotions are tricky. And over time I’ve come to realize that the only ones I’m certain about are that I love my parents, the team is my family, and that I’m in love with you.” 

She paused to take a breath. Before Steve could say anything, she continued. “I don’t know for sure if you feel the same way. If not, it’s okay. I know now that rejection is a miniscule amount of hurt compared to the idea of losing you without telling you how I feel.”

Instead of trying to put all of the emotions he was feeling into words, Steve gathered Y/N into his arms and kissed her. She wound her arms around his neck and kissed back. They stumbled backwards until her back hit the wall. They broke apart to breathe.

“I love you.” He said with a soft smile which she returned. 

“I love you too. So much.” 

Their lips met again in another searing kiss. Eventually, they moved to the bed and Steve kicked the door shut with his foot. 

 

Out in the hallway, a begrudging Tony, Bucky, Sam and Clint handed a smug Nat dollar bills. Tony leaned against the wall next to the red-headed assassin with his arms crossed. 

“I really thought they were going to wait at least a day.” He pouted. 

“We all saw Steve moping around the whole time she was gone. I’m surprised it didn’t all happen before dinner even started.” She said, sauntering away. 

The billionaire muttered to himself, “Note to self: don’t bet against Romanoff again.”


End file.
